The Central Bank of Iran has announced that it has never recognized Bitcoin as an official currency, and that it would not allow any transaction in any cryptocurrency whatsoever. These reports come after the Iranian government said last year that it was entertaining the possibility of using cryptocurrencies to bypass the economic sanctions we saw last year.

The Iran Front Page reported on this, saying that the country’s central bank denied the idea that it was actively facilitating Bitcoin transactions. The bank also issued a word of warning regarding the risks of investing in cryptos, as they “may lose their financial assets.”

The central bank is also cooperating with other institutions to find ways to prevent and control the utilisation of digital currencies in the country. The statement reads: “The wild fluctuations of the digital currencies along with competitive business activities underway via network marketing and pyramid scheme have made the market of these currencies highly unreliable and risky.”

Despite this, there are other ways According to NewsBTC, Iran’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi has stated that Iran’s Post Bank is working on a locally developed cryptocurrency, to be tested by the ICT.